Why it works: Milk and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Queen's Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard base
Bring the milk to a scald.
Pour the scalding milk over the bread crumbs and let it cool.
Beat the yolks of the eggs with one cup of common sugar, and mix in the cornstarch.
Use one large or two small lemons; grate the rind and juice.
Just before baking, add the grated rind of the lemon.
Bake for twenty minutes.
Top and serve
Beat the whites of the eggs with one cup of pulverized sugar, and add the lemon juice.
When the pudding is done, put this on the top and set it in the oven again for a few minutes.
Serve cold.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Bread + lemontop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,445 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs (in the method)
- Yolks enrich and thicken the custard, while whites are beaten into a sweet meringue topping.
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up the scalded milk to form the soft body of the pudding.
- Sweet milk
- Provides the liquid that sets with the eggs and cornstarch into a custard.
- Cornstarch (in the method)
- Thickens the custard so it holds its shape when baked and cooled.
- Pulverized sugar
- Dissolves easily into the beaten whites, giving a glossy, sweet meringue.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites with pulverized sugar for the topping. Whites must be beaten until they hold stiff peaks, and sugar added to stabilize the foam; underbeaten or greasy whites will weep or fail to brown evenly in the oven.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, bread, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applefits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, bread, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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